Airport forecaster suicide bid over crash
A Taiwanese weatherman tried to burn himself to death yesterday, blaming himself for Sunday's air crash which killed all 16 people on board, amid heavy rain.
Ouyang Kang-yen, an airport forecaster working on remote Matsu Island where the Formosa Airlines plane smashed into a mountain, left a note saying: 'I am truly sorry. My suicide isn't intended to avoid responsibility. But I can't sleep at the thought of 16 people dying. I prefer to die.' Mr Ouyang, 47, tied his feet to a chair in his office, doused himself with petrol and set it alight. He was rescued by colleagues but had 70 per cent burns.
A military helicopter flew him to a Taipei hospital from Matsu, just off the coast of Fujian province.
The director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration said he was convinced the crash of the Formosa Airlines Dornier 228 had nothing to do with Mr Ouyang.
And the chief of air traffic control operations said weather data relayed back to Taipei every hour proved that the forecaster bore no responsibility.
Aviation officials have said the airport - opened two years ago under pressure from local politicians for better transport links with Taiwan proper - was unsafe. Although it was raining when the plane crashed into Matsu's Jade Mountain, weather conditions were still well within administration standards.
Another civil aviation official said the plane's flight recorder had not revealed any abnormalities during the flight. But the voices of the pilot and co-pilot could not be heard clearly so the tape had been sent for further analysis.
